The possibility that the Telegraph could come on the market has prompted a frenzy of speculation over the implications for the British newspaper industry. Richard Desmond and his arch rival, Daily Mail and General Trust, have both let it be known that they are interested in the paper.

While Black has patched up legal differences with Desmond, he is still unlikel to sell to him. He told The Observer he was 'happy to talk to Richard' but added that he found the prospect of his owning the Telegraph 'an implausible scenario'.

Competition issues would almost certainly be raised in the case of DMGT, but the company has said it would be willing to divest assets in order to buy. The possibility of DMGT, led by Lord Rothermere, controlling a swathe of the right-wing press is likely to worry the Government and it seems likely that any bid would be referred to the Competition Commission and potentially to the new media regulator, Ofcom.

Apax Partners, led by former Telegraph managing director Stephen Grabiner, has also let it be known it would be interested. A new owner for the Telegraph would be the first major ownership shift in a broadsheet paper since the 1980s and the first major test of the Government's new communications legislation.

Shareholders would like to see the company sold as a single entity because of the tax liabilities involved in breaking it up into global regions, but it seems likely Black's empire will be split up. The fact that the Telegraph Group is used as collateral for various bond issues means any potential buyer would take on a level of debt that can only be speculated on, but the papers' prestige makes them attractive in spite of this.

Rupert Murdoch has counted himself out of the race (he would almost certainly be blocked from buying the papers under UK competition law), but US sources say he has expressed an interest in the Chicago Sun-Times . David Radler is also understood to have indicated an interest in the Chicago papers and the Jerusalem Post is reported to have attracted the attention of the Bronfmann dynasty.

A number of US private equity groups are circling Hollinger International. Bain Capital, Nelson Peltz's Triarc Companies, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Quadrangle Group are all thought to have made informal inquiries.